>> i'm krystal ball. we do have a little bit of work to do. a big cat nap meeting at the white house and the spth upping the ante. we break it all down. >> i'm toure and certain to win the $550 million but i'll be available to guest star on "martin" because i do this for the love of game. >> i'm s.e. cupp. i wasn't included in the pool. i was duck hunting in louisiana and missed it but i'll have the last laugh. i'm in my own pool and people don't know about flying coconuts. yeah, it's a thing. >> plus my fake talking as a way to mess things up in the senate. i'm going to miss you guys. for the last time, "the cycle" begins right now. you know, on second thought, 280 million after taxes so what

are we getting all excited about? president obama is meeting with his cabinet at the white house. we'll get the first pictures of that any minute now. earlier today, the president pushed the congress to react on keeping middle class tax rates where they currently stand. >> i'm asking congress to listen to the people who sent us here to serve. i'm asking americans all across the country to make your voice heard. tell members of congress what $2,000 tax hike would mean to you. >> so many people say the president has the upper hand in the debt talks this time around and republicans are starting to show some signs of compromise. >> republicans are willing to put revenue on the table but it's time for the president and democrats to get serious about the spending problem that our country has. but i'm optimistic that we can continue to work together to avert this crisis and sooner rather than later.

>> all right. nbc's mike viqueira at the white house. could be one of the last cabinet meetings for a few of the people there. >> reporter: yeah. secretaries of defense and secretaries of state and secretaries of transportation. more staying than not, steve. you are right. but this could be one of the last meetings that comes amid a flurry of activity here at the white house. the president mounting this public relations campaign. you know, he said washington has to be changed from the outside. you can't do it from the inside and trying to put those words to effect. they have really got the pr campaign going. they started a twitter campaign. they call it my 2 k and you know today it was small businesses from around the country. actually, that's a little bit later. with fix the debt. the coalition of large and small businesses later today. this morning, he met with a lot of middle class folks that written in to the white house at the solicitation of the white house and folks saying they would be adversely affected by the $2,000 and added taxes that

would come next year alone for the average family of four if the nation is to go over the fiscal cliff. you know, there was one republican, you talked about the glimmers of hope for a compromise. it's tom cole of oklahoma who was quoted yesterday and this morning saying, you know what? let's go along with the president. you heard the sound bite. the president once again calling for congress to pass a tax cut for everybody making under $250,000 and come back to the rest later but the problem is, tom cole doesn't have the votes and neither does john boehner even if he wanted to put that on the floor so the goal of the pr campaign, the machinery kicking in to gear at the white house is to turn the voettes, get votes. swing counties, you know, the election may be over but the campaign continues. there are republicans around in these counties around philadelphia, three of the four districts, as a matter of fact, who can be counted only as swing voters in the house of representatives and that's the

battleground where the fight is playing out, steve. >> okay. thanks as always. now bringing in "the washington post" political columnist dana millbank a. point of emphasis is tax rates for the wealthy saying in the campaign to go up, he wants to make sure they go up now. dick durbin, number two senate democrat and close to the white house and gave a speech yesterday about the entitlement aspect. medicare, medicaid. the entitlement aspect and basically said we don't want entitlements to be part of the immediate talks january 1st but think as democrats they should be part of longer terms talks for next year. i'm just wondering, is there a sense from the white house among democrats of what it is they're prepared to give in on on terms of entitlement? >> not enough to satisfy the republicans, this's for sure. they say up here they have seen

nothing. unfortunately, the few people who are beginning to even talk about the need for eventual compromise like a tom cole, like a dick durbin are quickly getting smacked down here, particularly on the republican side. that congressman just got a spanking from john boehner in front of his caucus today so there's -- doesn't seem to be any movement in that direction. i was at a breakfast with bowles and simpson this morning and erskine bowles saying he think there is's a 1 in 3 chance of this working out before the fiscal cliff is reached on december 31st. he said he's not hearing enough in terms of entitlements, medicare from the white house and not hearing enough from the republicans in terms of tax revenues. >> dana, i want to go back to the comments of representative tom cole, basically calling on republicans, urging them to extend the marginal tax rates for everybody. under $250,000, let's take a listen to what he had to say.

>> in my view we all agree we're not going to raise taxes on people that make less than $250,000. we should take them out of the discussion right now. continue to fight against any rate increases, continue the try to work honestly for a much bigger deal. >> now, i actually don't think that's such a bad strategy for republicans in an awkward place politically right now basically the president is making the case that they're holding middle class tax cuts hostage to secure tax cuts for the wealthy. what do you make of the strategies? is there any chance you think the colleagues would go along with it? >> well, being reasonable these days in the republican house caucus is something of a capital offense so it's pretty clear that they're not going along with this, at least now certainly boehner was reprimanding him saying he's not going along with this idea. you hear republicans particularly in the senate say, of course we need to find some serious ways of doing tax revenues and with tax rates, not just with the loopholes and the

deductions. as a tactical matter, they feel they don't want to give in on the tax -- the tax cuts only for income below $250 thousand dollars feeling they've lost the leverage to push far deal on entitlements. there are only ten legislative days to work something out here. they seem dug in and unwilling to do what everybody knows they have to do and that's reach a comprehensive deal. >> i'm not totally sold on the idea that the republicans aren't being totally unreasonable. i think i see some signs of reasonableness and i think what they're trying to do is find a way to convince the base, look, we tried. we got pushed in to a corner. we had to raise rates on the highest earners, trying to find a path to, yes, first read talked about this. translation house republicans don't have the upper hand in the negotiations. they will have to grapple with raising rates at least in the short term and cole is giving them a way out of the box short

term which is the do on the de-couple on the upper rates and live to fight another day and raising rates and not crushed by the base and kicked out of the d.c. do you think that's what's happening, trying to find a way to yes? >> i'm sure that's what tom cole's trying to do. not clear that he has any kind of support for that idea in that caucus. look. it's going to take a crisis evidently to create some sort of impetus for them to bend on this. one would think that the fiscal cliff itself, it's a man-made crisis and good enough. maybe it needs to go further than that. you need to see markets tank and need to see the economy plummet and then say we tried and we have to give in on that. that's an awfully dangerous game to play. >> that's sad. >> dana, we have word that mitt romney is going to the white house tomorrow. oh, to be a fly on the wall over there. what do you expect that meeting to sound like? >> awkward. >> is this for show? because obama basically said that he would or do you really

expect this to be a meeting of the minds and actual sort of agenda to come out of it? >> yeah. well, the white house announcement is terrific. it said it's a private meeting in the private dining room and no press. >> right. >> very clear that they won't want anything to come out of it. i suspect it will be one of those photo releases of them strolling down the colonnade or something looking like good friends. >> that's what i thought. >> this is a requirement. they agreed to do it. neither one particularly likes the other. obama, you know, in his press conference said he likes the way mitt romney ran the olympics. perhaps asking him to do something in the sporting field. >> maybe he'll give him some gifts to win over his support. >> yeah. >> sorry. >> i said it after the election. my dream scenario is that he goes in there tomorrow and obama offers him secretary of health and human services to implement obama care and otherwise known as romney care. >> from your lips to god's ears. >> don't count on it.

>> thank you for joining us. up next, krystal ball sees the future of the republican party. she's no mind reader but watching the primaries as they take shape. we talked about the president's cabinet. susan rice was on the hill. what are her chances of secretary of state now? as the final ever "cycle" rolls on.

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u.n. ambassador and secretary of state front-runner susan rice on capitol hill today meeting with two more republican

senators. susan collins from the armed services committee and bob corker of the foreign relations committee. following the meeting, senator collins echos the comments of colleagues that met with rice, she expressed concern of how the events played out in benghazi before and after the september 11th consulate attacks. the senator also weighed in on her choice to replace hillary clinton and it's not susan rice. >> i think john kerry would be an excellent appointment and would be easily confirmed by his colleagues. >> following his meeting, senator corker called on the president to reconsider nominating rice. >> all of us here hold the secretary of state to a very different standard than most cabinet members. there's a handful of people that the president surrounds himself with that all of us hold to a very different level and secretary of state no doubt is one of those. >> so let's put this through the

spin. s.e.? >> yeah, i mean, my focus on susan rice is a little different. i know our last guest dana mill bank, maureen dowd made the leap susan rice is not qualified to be nominated. i'm more interested in getting the bottom of the benghazi situation and there are still too many questions. and the timeline i've been following since its inception was the negligence in securing the base before the attack, the incompetence surrounding the attack on that day and then the possible duplicity after the attack. and the duplicity angle is less important to methane the incomp hence angle. i don't want it to happen again. unfortunately, president obama puts susan rice in a position to be the gateway to a lot of these questions. obama wasn't on the sunday shows. hillary clinton wasn't on the sunday shows.

and as much as daryl issa and john mccain have been trying to get answers from the fbi and the cia and the intelligence committee and all of those other things, we have to go through susan rice. before we can work on preventing this from happening again, we have to agree on what exactly happened. and we don't fully know and we need to find out. >> i appreciate a lot of your position. if this was really about consulate security and what happened that day for a lot of these people, i would find that extremely valid. these are important questions. nobody wants this to happen again. it is completely a tragedy. but what we have is talking point police attacking susan rice because of what she said on the shows. look. they -- all these senators know the intelligence that she got. they know she was briefed by the intelligence community to say this. they know there's no duplicity. she was told what to say and whatnot to say. there's this bizarre kabuki theaters a foekt this.

if it's above politics, it's attacking obama and the intelligence community. susan rice is not the doorway in to that. obama who stood up and said i'm where the buck stops. attack me. we are not going to do this. >> obama doesn't show up at the hearings. >> but obama is where the buck stops so if you have a problem, these senators have classified access. they know susan rice did not lie and look. the losing party does not get to determine who gets in to the cabinet so i'm not interested that they think john kerry would have an easier time. >> what i would say just from a tactical standpoint, i think the focus on susan rice and the performance on sunday talk shows has sort of undermined the deeper more important questions as you point out, s.e. on this. but in other goings on within the establishment, republicans trying to figure out how they, the establishment figures exercise more influence in their primaries to end what they call their aiken angle problem. today the efforts dealt a blow.

the current lieutenant governor of virginia is set to drop out of the 2013 virginia gubernatorial race. he was endorsed by outgoing governor macdonald. he was mitt romney's virginia campaign chairman. the establishment-backed guy and leaves the door open for tea party darling known to virginians and many others as the kuch. thes state's current attorney general. we also have elsewhere and popular west virginia moderate, shelly moore capito to challenge jay rockefeller and rebuked by tea party senator jim demint and the club for growth among other conservatives and in georgia incumbent senator chambliss looks like he's facing challenges from the right flank and one of those considering a run is conservative blogger and activist eerick erickson.

they're early indications of will the republican party be able to overcome what has been a major issue for them? i mean, they have had two election cycles now where they failed to take control of the senate in part because of nominating extreme and unelectable candidates. these are troubling signs for them. virginia's my home state and i have watched the kuch probably a bit more than most and he's more polished, more capable of a politician than a todd aiken but just as far to the right and extreme. as attorney general he pretried to prevent universities in the state from including sexual orientation in nondiscrimination policies and a witch hunt against a former uva professor of climate science as a state senator, as the republican party is trying to move more to the center on immigration, he was really out there on that trying to amend the 14th amendment not to allow children born to legal immigrants to be citizens and

wanted to keep people who don't speak english from collecting unemployment benefits. >> not illegal immigrants. >> no. just people that don't speak english. a little bit of birtherism in there and maybe suggested that obama stole the election. >> i know a lot of legal citizens who can barely speak english. >> they deserve unemployment benefits. >> talking about the future of the republican party and this is very early after 2012 election and what this says, i don't think it really -- there's a couple issues and doesn't tell us too much. virginia issue more about the political culture and the virginia primary. virginia republican party, excuse me, because the virginia republican party decided a vote of about 75 people in the state we don't have a primary next year and doing it in the state convention and where the nomination is given out and a longstanding problem in virginia for republicans and a couple other states where this happens with a convention and just most conservative elements that dominate. almost 20 years ago a state

convention to get oliver north. the one candidate to have lost in 1994. 1996, john warner, an icon defeated at the republican convention but had the option of forcing a primary. that's how he was able to survive that year. so i think that's the specifics. what i'm looking for outside of virginia and in general of the republican party is question i'm asking is are the terms of debate going to expand over the next few years? the problem isn't you have primary challengers but the primary challenges, a, succeeding. people who have never won before the sort of tea party-obama era. the terms of debate sonar row that it's forced nontea party, nonfringe people to mimic the behavior. think of tommy thompson last year -- this year who was the dreamed republican candidate in that senate race. former governor, four terms, popular name. he couldn't run as moderate tommy thompson but tommy thompson promising to get rid of medicare and how he got the

nomination and republican the base from revolting. those are the terms of debate within the party that's acceptable. we don't know now and it's a process and are those terms of debate and on taxes and entitlements, the safety net -- >> steve let me cut you off. we have tape of the president. let's go to that now. >> well, listen. this is a wonderful opportunity for me to meet with my full cabinet for the first time since the election took place. the primary purpose for my perspective is to say thank you because everybody here in their respective agencies has done a remarkable job on behalf of the american people. across the board on a wide range of issues. they've always prioritized how do we make sure that we have a strong middle class, how do we grow our economy, put people back to work and keep the american people safe and continue to extend our influence and our ideals around the world.

i could not have a better collection of people, many of whom have stayed here throughout my first term. i think we have had as little turnover as any president during the course of a first term and the reason is because everybody's done such a remarkable job so my main purpose is to say thank you to them and remind them we have a lot of work to do. there are going to be a few specific issues to spend time on. one in particular that i should note is that the devastating impact of hurricane sandy is still being felt by families all across new york, new jersey, parts of connecticut. we are very pleased that under the leadership initially of janet napolitano and fema, but now, sean donovan heading up a task force we're focusing not only on recovery but now on rebuilding and making sure those communities come back stronger than ever and people get the help they need. so that will be an important

topic because it's really going to be of interagency concern. second thing that we'll be talking about, obviously, when's on the minds of a lot of american families across the country and that's making sure that we get this fiscal cliff dealt with and that middle class taxes don't go up. i already spoke extensively about that today. i'll just repeat. there's no reason why taxes on middle class families should go up. it would be bad for the economy and those families. in fact, it would be bad for the world economy. and so, i think it's very important that we get that resolved and i am very open to a fair and balanced approach to reduce our deficit and provide the kind of certainty that businesses and consumers need that we can keep this recovery going. and obviously, we'll be spending sometime talking about national security issues, as well. but i just want to say thank you to this extraordinary cabinet for a job well done and i will take this opportunity to

publicly embarrass two members of the cabinet whose birthdays are today or tomorrow. rich consecki, happy birthday to you. that is actually today. and janet napolitano's birthday is tomorrow. all right, guys. thank you. we want to get back to work. >> mr. president -- >> thank you, so much, guys. susan rice is extraordinary. couldn't be prouder of the job she's done. all right. >> that was the president praising his current cabinet, also a little compliment to susan rice there at the end. straight ahead, we have more

politics. the man behind america's political dynasty, the untold story of patriarch of joseph p. kennedy. [ male announcer ] if you suffer from heartburn 2 or more days a week, why use temporary treatments when you can prevent the acid that's causing it with prevacid24hr. with one pill prevacid24hr works at the source to prevent the acid that causes frequent heartburn all day and all night. and with new prevacid24hr perks, you can earn rewards from dinner deals to music downloads for purchasing prevacid24hr. prevent acid all day and all night for 24 hours with prevacid24hr.

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so here's a trivia question for you. who served as the first chairman of the s.e.c. a hollywood studio executive, u.s. ambassador to britain? any questions? >> i know, i know. >> of course. you are looking at the screen like i am. joseph p. kennedy. the father of president john f. kennedy and senators robert and ted kennedy. patriarch of one of america's most famous political dynasties. with unrestricted access, our next guest weaves a story . revealing some stranger truths, for example, he wasn't a bootlegger but he did provide

harvard colleagues. with us today is david nasaw. author of "the patriarch." david, i guess what i want to ask you, i have always been sort of struck when i think about the kennedys. today we think of them as symbols of american liberalism. ted kennedy, robert f. kennedy and the old man, he was very, very different. i mean, he was an isolationist. he didn't want nato created. against the marshall plan and the truman doctrine. he was very anti-semitic. how do you get from that man sort of a right wing reactionary democrat almost to ted kennedy? >> he was a great, great father. and he raised his kids to be independent. he raised his kids to think for themselves and they thought for themselves. and he kept encouraging them. they're -- there's one moment in time in which he's talking to

supreme court william o douglas, you know, the you will malt liberal. he says to him, i don't know what's wrong with me. two people i love the most in the world are you and jack, my son. and i don't agree with anything either of you ever has to say. >> hmm. well, david, we all had some fun with google auto search yesterday. and i did a little plugging in of my own. i plugged in was kennedy -- and the first thing threes is bootlegger, anti-semitic, nazi sympathizer. why does he have that reputation of being a nazi sympathizer and was it deserved? >> no, it was certainly not deserved. he was against any american involvement in the war. he was in world war ii. he was against any american involvement in sending supplies to britain or france. he was against any american troops or american boys going over there. but that was not because he wanted hitler to rule the world. at all.

he did that because he was convinced that if we entered the war the strain on the economy would be such that we'd go back in to the depression. things would be worse than before. capitalism would be threatened. democracy would be threatened. everything that america stood for would be threatened. if we had to go in to that war. >> david, the worst thing that a parent can go through is to bury a child. joseph kennedy had to bury four of his children. tragic, sudden deaths. kathleen dies in a plane crash in 1948. of course, the president's shot in 1963. rfk shot in 1968. not to mention chappaquiddick months before he passed away and the lifelong tragedy of rose kennedy's life. mentally ill, institutionalized. they never mentioned her and not part of the family in this bizarre way. what was the impact on him burying and losing so many of his children and did he have a

sense of like we're having a really tragic duck in this generation. >> he didn't think of it that way. he thought of the outside forces were conspireing. it was greatest irony and he said this time and time and time again in letters to his friends. he said i was against this war. i did everything i possibly could to keep american boys out of this were and what happens? we fight the war. i lose my oldest son, my second son jack is so damaged by the war he never thought he was going to survive. and then the ultimate tragedy. i mean, having lost two children after his stroke in 1961, when he could no longer speak, when he -- the only word to say is no, no. and if he said it gently you knew it meant yes, to be told by ted that first jack had been killed and then to be told by

his wife that bobby had been killed, for a man to outlive four of his children with one retarded and in an institution for the rest of her life is, you know, an unspeakable, unimaginable tragedy for anyone and for kennedy who believed in his kids, it was unspeakable. >> david, one other thing about the children, i mean, obviously, joseph had really instilled in them a commitment to a life of service and also seemingly despite their very privileged upbringing, real compassion and empathy for working class and people living in poverty. how did he accomplish that? >> he told his kids from very early on, he said i'm making all this money. i'm going to leave each of you a

trust fund of a million dollars. but that's not so you can go play. it's not so you can buy yachts. though they did buy yachts. that's because we want you to go in to public service. i've made this money so you can serve the public, either in politics or another way and they did. and they knew that from the very beginning that this was their father's dream for them and they made that dream their own. each of them. i mean, we talk about the boys who entered politics but gene kennedy smith is an ambassador to ireland at a time to help solve the crisis of northern ireland and eunice ken l lned kennedy-shriver creates the disability rights movement. >> david nasaw, thank you for joining us. up next, are you seeking a break from the doldrums of daily life? meet the people that turned to robots and christian rap to feel more alive.

britain's weirdest mind author is here in new york to tell us all about them. that's next. we're at walmart with the simmons family. how much is your current phone bill? four sixteen seventy six a month! okay, come with me -- we're gonna save you money. with straight talk at walmart, you get unlimited talk, text and data for only $45 a month per phone. would we get the same coverage? same coverage on america's best networks. you saved $146.76 by switching to straight talk. awesome! now you can afford to share your allowance with me. get the season's hottest smartphones like the samsung galaxy s2 and get straight talk with unlimited data

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our next guest spent most of his career studying the odd personalities in existence that is many of us don't understand or don't want to understand. first he brought us the psychopath test and his latest book is a collection of stories about murders, psychics, cults, the north pole, the insane cloud pos posse, yes, that's really a thing. much, much more. why do people living in the fringe lives cling to their beliefs and life styles? we may have more in common with these characters than we think. let's bring in john ronson and the author of fascinating new book "lost at sea." his press calls him the weirdest mind in britain which probably

takes a lot to be. but now he's in america so he's just an average weirdo here in america. jon, you interviewed a cornucopia of weird people and you found the scientist that set himself up as the welcoming committee for the aliens if and when they arrive. tell us about this person. >> okay. that is guy called paul davis. he is actually the official government alien welcoming committee. i guess -- >> thank god we have one. >> official? >> taxpayer dollars at work. >> belongs to a government-funded organization of seti and the view is if it's left to the masses, you know, how would we welcome ourselves to the aliens? it would be some kind of video game or, you know, he is sniffy about the masses and the human race and so excited about aliens because he's more intelligent than the rest of us and will be on the same level as the aliens

and the job basically to decide how do we welcome the aliens when they come? and it's not going to be a video game. it's not going to be a led zeppelin album or a jimmy carter speech which is what it was going to be back in the late '70s. it's complex physics and convinced is the answer. >> well, jon, you have described some of the previous work as funny stories about unfunny things. and i think one of the episodes you talk about in the new book about indigo children? who are these people? >> this is amazing. so as we all know, there's a massive overdiagnose of mental disorders in this country. to the extent there's two out of every classroom or kids that diagnosed with adhd and put on ritalin these days and i read about this in the test of massive overreliance on diagnosing and medication and interesting thing is happening as a result of this.

you have a bunch of parents of kids diagnosed saying, you know what? our children aren't adhd. what they are is highly evolved indigo children, psychic beings of another planet coming to earth to basically spread the message of love and peace. and they have indigo meetings where they learn to be how to be telepathic. i went to a meeting and half the kids had to wear blind dpolds and the other kids to telepathically tell them how to get from one end of the room to the other. >> did it work? >> no. banging in to chairs. >> oh no. >> terrible. because, of course, not telepathic. >> right. >> but my argument would be that then they're no less crazy than the medical community that's diagnosing like everybody's a bit skittish. >> not just poking fun at the people, right? >> quite the opposite. i think that we all of us in our bubbles of irrationality and lost at sea looking for the

driftwood to keep us going. i know i am. so in fact, i'm the opposite of poking fun. i put myself very much on the level with these people. >> and jon, was there -- you're sort of seeking out of surprising people. is there one that's surprisingly normal? >> phoenix jones, the real life superhero. i think you have done something on him before, right? he dresses up and goes out in to the streets of seattle to fight crime. and i thought this would be, you know, just a crazy story. i went on patrol with him. night after night. and the first problem is that there was no crime to fight. whatsoever. we were just looking for crime everywhere. just wasn't any crime. to the extent -- but i kind of loved him and i grew to love him. one point he was so annoyed that he couldn't find any crime to thwart, him and the cohorts in masks and super suits and needed to book a hotel room and call in some prostitutes and when they

arrived he would ask them if they needed help escaping the web of prostitution which i thought was a terrible idea because, firstly, it's an hour out of their night. secondly, they get to a hotel room and see three men in masks. they're not thinking superheroes. >> oh no. >> i thought he was lovely. you know, like him and a lot of people i wrote about they may have turned to crazy ideas but just good people trying to do good in a difficult and complicated world. >> absolutely right. brilliant stories. jon ronson, check it out. very interesting book. thank you for coming by. >> thank you. up next, a big announcement from us here. but first, a little more classic motown as a happy birthday to barry gordy. i had enough of feeling embarrassed about my skin.

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something this delicious could only come from nature. now from the maker of splenda sweeteners, discover nectresse. the only 100% natural, no-calorie sweetener made from the goodness of fruit. the rich, sweet taste of sugar. nothing artificial. ♪ it's all that sweet ever needs to be. new nectresse. sweetness naturally. time now for the back spin and i have some big news to announce. this is probably my final cycle show because as of 11:00 tonight i will be $550 million richer. but don't worry, my fellow cyclists. i would leave. i would be at your service because on monday they all got together in office pool while i was conveniently out of the office. >> part of it.

>> last night i joined my fellow new yorkers and bought my own tickets including, of course, the winning one but i'm sure nbc's jay gray bought tickets already. don't worry. there's a next big jackpot for you. >> reporter: don't go, don't leave yet. i'm in dallas. they sell a lot of gas here, they sell great tacos and other stuff. today, to big ticket item, obviously, is tickets. a lot of people trying to cash in and get in, beat the odds and the deadline for the drawing tonight. seen a lot of people in the morning. kind of a lull and then a lot of people at lunch and getting a bit of a lull now and then after work it will be a madhouse. look, i have to say, s.e. in the effort of full disclosure, it is nice you think you're going to win but the fact here is, i actually have grabbed the winning ticket so there are a few hours left to buy some tickets but here they are. since you've been so kind in this, there will be a little

something in your check next week. >> thanks. thanks and good luck. all right. i want to bring to the table like 1 in 175 million chances. >> so it's likely. >> but i've already made my plans for what i'll do with the winnings and bought all the tic i don't have to split them with all of you. >> good thinking. >> i am going to buy a huge ranch, instead of a hunting preserve. i plan to buy a nascar team. i might also fund a sophisticated big foot expedition. because i want to get to the bottom of this. and then, of course, the obligatory charitable donations. what about you? >> i was doing the math, $560 million, but if you take the lump sum payment, have you to lop off like $200 million and pay 25% to federal tax and 35% in state -- >> debbie downer! >> no, i looked at it. i did the math. $1,400 is what you're left with.

>> that's what you would get. >> i was thinking, what would i do with the money? i can't think of anything in particular i want that's big. talking to a friend of mine a while ago. he's a lawyer. he's invested a little. he's been smart with his money. he said if he got fired from his job or quit his job and just continued living his current lifestyle, he could keep doing that for 4 1/2 years. i remember envying that security. to me it would just be the idea of never having to worry about anything relating to bills again. >> sure, yeah. >> just that feeling. not that i want anything that big. well, i would get rid of the apartment. >> well, ford if i did win, i think i would come back to "the cycle," i enjoy it that much. this feels hokie but i feel privileged to do it. i would come back even if i won. one thing that scares me about this i was reading i would be more likely to have identical

quaut rupe l quadruplets than to win. but in terms of the money, i couldn't think of anything big but i was thinking i might buy the next election. >> maybe. >> that's on my wish list. >> the coke cisisters. >> for you, i do this for the love much the game but i would still come back and do this because it's a privilege and honor to be part of the conversation on msnbc, but -- >> are you going to do it when i'm your boss? you're not buying this network. >> no. i would love to buy a piece of the sports team. it won't be lakers. but the l.a. is interesting because i would love to be part of bringing football to l.a. even though i don't love l.a., that would be a fabulous investment for the sports community because l.a. needs a football team and it doesn't have one or the penthouse richard meyer building on the west side -- >> those fans were so good to the raiders and rams. up next, the gift that keeps on giving. for all of us that didn't get enough of the debt ceiling fight

the first time around, steve says we'll be talking about it this holiday, too. great. how is that for what we call a turn to the christmas tree lighting we're excited for tonight. christmas in rock center starts on 8 p.m. eastern on nbc tonight. if you're down on the plaza, look up and wave. victor! victor! i got your campbell's chunky soup. mom? who's mom? i'm the giants mascot. the giants don't have a mascot! ohhh! eat up! new jammin jerk chicken soup has tasty pieces of chicken with rice and beans. hmmm. for giant hunger! thanks mom! see ya! whoaa...oops! mom? i'm ok. grandma? hi sweetie! she operates the head. [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. it fills you up right.

united states senate has 100 members. it used to be that if you could get 51 of them to agree on something, you could pass a bill. not anymore, though. the magic number today is of 60.

that's what you need to break a filibuster and republicans have insisted on subjecting anything democrats have tried to pass a filibuster. obscure appointments to the executive branch, federal government, you name it. democrats will have well over 50 votes but not 60. this is not how the senate is supposed to operate. for a long time filibuster was a tool of last resort for a determined minority. every few years a band of senators would pull it out to make a stand against a major piece of legislation. they would hold the floor for hours or days. sometimes they'd get their way. often they were just grandstanding, making a symbolic stand for the folks back home. a filibuster evolved over the years. both parties started using it more. the senate started slowing down and the rules were charged. change to allow for silent filibusters. all the minority party has to do now is put the majority party on notice it plans to filibuster something and that's usually enough. the matter is cast aside and

other business proceeds. no need for jimmy stewart or mr. smith showmanship anymore. filibuster has become the most important tool in the republican party's efforts to obstruct, stall or otherwise water down president obama's agenda. democrats have had it. majority leader harry reid has been a senate institutionalist for years and he's changed his mind. now he says he wants to change the rule for filibusters when the new senate convenes in january. president obama has signaled today he's on board, too. filibuster is badly needed. there is a problem, however. the rules changes the democrats have in mind really won't change anything at all. the first idea is to get rid of the fill bust other what's called the motion to proceed. what does that mean? it means a bill could only be filibustered once it's debated on the floor. not when snares are deciding whether to bring it to the floor. there's nothing wrong with this idea but even if adopted it will take 60 votes to pass anything in the senate. democrats' other idea is to force real talking filibusters. if republicans want a filibuster

something they have to do it in the open, hold the floor, talk for hours on end, like the old days. supposedly this will shine the light on obstructionism. cause an uproar and cause the gop to back down. it won't. republicans will be happy to stand up and filibuster on the floor, be hailed here rose by rush limbaugh and donations will rush in. so, if you want to have reform, you're going to need to do something that actually changes the 60-vote reality of today's senate. that does it for "the cycle," martin bashir all yours. >> steve kornacki, a man who never filibusters. good afternoon, it's wednesday, november 28th and it's powerball washington edition and the president might be holding the winning ticket. the dreaded fiscal cliff. >> as we